JJ CORRESPONDENT
Jammu, May 6: Northern Command Army Commander Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi on Friday said the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Jammu and Kashmir will ‘automatically’ go, when there is no need of security forces on the roads.
“The day when there is no need of armed guards and paramilitary on roads, the AFSPA will ‘automatically’ go in Jammu and Kashmir,” the Army Commander said, while speaking to the media at the sidelines of North Tech Symposium in Udhampur. “If the DDC members are able to reach out to people without protection, if the Deputy Commissioner and others meet people without protection, when the policeman is able to go home in uniform or without protection, these are the indicators that there is no need for AFSPA,” he added.
On the situation post revocation of Article 370, the Army Commander said, “After the revocation of Article 370 in 2019, many changes are visible on ground. “Once I asked a lady member of DDC what changes did she see after the revocation of Article 370 and she replied that earlier, when the children were told by schools to bring the country flag, they were confused which country’s flag they had to take to the school. But now, it is clear that they have to carry the Indian flag to the schools and this type of change is visible on ground,” he added.
He said the Army was also playing an important role in bringing this change and over 15,000 students in 48 goodwill schools are being taught how to build a better future for themselves in their own country. He, however, also expressed concern over radicalisation, stating that the recruitment of teenagers was increasing and it was a matter of concern for all. “They are being educated to get rid of radicalisation being infused in them by Pakistan. After the abrogation of Article 370, there is a change,” he said.
On the ceasefire agreement, the Army Commander replied, “From February 2021, the ceasefire understanding has been ‘working very well’ and in the last 11-12 months, if I may say so, the number of CFVs have been very limited and those have been exception, for example are 2 to 3 only.”
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in a meeting a couple of months back, had cleared that infiltration will not be tolerated at all and the infiltration grid should be fool-proof and actually, it was foolproof to a great extent, so that no infiltration could take place. “As far as terror camps across are concerned, there are around six major ones and around 29 minor ones. There are temporary launchpads also, co-located with various military establishments,” he said, adding that the complicity of the Pakistan army and other agencies cannot be denied.
The Army Commander said the hinterland infiltration took place from areas like jungles, snow-bound belts, but the aim was to identify and neutralise them. “As far as number of terrorists is concerned across, approximately 200 terrorists are waiting at the launch pad to infiltrate and if the hintherland I have to look upon, I will say approximately 40-50 may be there in the system and foreign terrorists, we are not sure how many of they may be,” he added.
“The way we have neutralised 21 foreign terrorists by this point of time, it shows that the shelter which was being provided earlier, is going down with every passing day,” said General Dwivedi. On Amarnath Yatra, he said that all SOPs were being put in place under Operation Shiva and sanitisation was being done.
“As expected, the number of pilgrims may double this year as compared to 2019 and we have to ensure that there is no terrorist action during the yatra, for which additional forces are also being deployed,” he added. On situation along the Line of Actual Control, the Army Commander said, “It is stable, but at the state of heightened alert, because we don’t want the situation to repeat, which took place on April 20.” UNI
